Something More is one of those books that I think of days afterwards. It’s a contemporary story about family and love. I fell in love with Jessie from the beginning and adore the ways she’s trying to figure out what she wants and who she wants to be. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
A contemporary teen romance novel featuring a Palestinian-Canadian girl trying to hide her autism diagnosis while navigating her first year of high school, for fans of Jenny Han and Samira Ahmed.
Fifteen-year-old Jessie, a quirky loner obsessed with the nineties, is diagnosed as autistic just weeks before starting high school. Determined to make a fresh start and keep her diagnosis a secret, Jessie creates a list of goals that range from acquiring two distinct eyebrows to getting a magical first kiss and landing a spot in the school play. Within the halls of Holy Trinity High, she finds a world where things are no longer black and white and quickly learns that living in color is much more fun. But Jessie gets more than she bargained for when two very different boys steal her heart, forcing her to go off-script.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Something More is one of those tender books. It’s about Jessie and her high school experience wanting to hide her autism, while also navigating new experiences and dating. I adored watching the sibling dynamics and Jessie’s relationships with them develop especially as she is growing up. This line between her family knowing about her autism, but not her friends at school. Something More allows Jessie to bloom, not only to readers, but also for herself.
All the ways Jessie is relying on masking, on mimicking, and the games of social niceties. The social rules it seems everyone else knows where we haven’t gotten the memo. Something More doesn’t shy away from difficult decisions or from how hard it is to repair our trust. Or all the times we are so absorbed in our ideas of someone, of who we have become. With messy dynamics, growing up, and all the times when our friends cause us to fall into ethical traps. We can be so convinced we want this version of our life, what happens when something else surprises us?
Something More really brought me back to that teenage angst, to the feelings that returned with a ferocity. Would definitely recommend for YA audiences and those feelings of being confronted with situations that force us to figure out who we want to be.
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June 1st
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About the Author
JACKIE KHALILIEH is a Palestinian-Canadian writer with a love of nineties pop culture, Dad jokes, and warm and fuzzy romance. Like many autistic females, she received her diagnosis as an adult. She is passionate about positive representation within her writing. She currently resides just outside Toronto, Canada with her husband and two daughters, complaining nightly about having to cook dinner. Something More is her debut YA novel.
Author Links:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22382957.Jackie_Khalilieh
Website: https://www.jackiekhalilieh.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jackiekhalilieh
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/JackieKhalilieh